811.24522/45
The Director of the Office of American Republic Affairs ( Duggan ) to the Ambassador in Ecuador ( Scotten )
Dear Bob: This comes to tell you of one important consideration regarding the Galápagos agreement which it was thought advisable to refrain from mentioning in the detailed instructions43 which you should receive in this mail.
The Ecuadoran Government may perhaps interpret our willingness to sign an agreement terminating at a specific time after the end of the war as an indication of a policy decision on our part respecting the post-war use of the Galápagos base. I am sure you will understand that it is of highest importance that officials of this Government avoid saying anything which might lend support to such an interpretation, or indeed making any remark which the Ecuadoran Government or any of its officials could use, now or later, in support of a claim that the United States has committed itself in any way with respect to the question of possible use by us of a base in the Galápagos Islands after the war.
Although I am very conscious that this fact will increase the difficulty of your task in negotiating a satisfactory agreement, I felt you would wish to have this information.
There is one other point about which I should like to make a comment. While the War and Navy Departments have approved the Department’s instruction under reference, they both remarked that their preference would have been to limit to the first three points and not to go into detail with respect to the other matters which are referred to in the instruction. They were willing to defer to the Department’s opinion on this point, however, and it is our view that you should be as fully informed as possible in the premises. Furthermore, it is to be noted that you will be negotiating on the basis of the Ecuadoran counterdraft rather than on that of the original draft. For that reason, it would seem absolutely impracticable to omit numbered paragraph four and the numerous lettered paragraphs. I believe, in view of the attitude of the War and Navy Departments, that you should bend every effort to securing Ecuadoran acceptance [Page 1057] of all of the original draft except those parts covered by numbered paragraphs one to three.
With best wishes for your success,
Sincerely yours,
- Infra.↩